Things seemed promising when the 2023 Michigan Wolverines won their first national championship since 1997, with head coach Jim Harbaugh leading the team to victory. College football fans praised his leadership, grateful for the long-awaited success. But as soon as Harbaugh became the subject of NCAA scrutiny, it became clear that triumph would soon give way to disappointment.
The University of Michigan (Michigan) football team’s issues began to escalate during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when the NCAA implemented strict recruiting rules to ensure a level playing field. However, these rules became a point of contention for the Wolverines.
Among the violations were text messages sent during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, analysts performing on-field coaching duties, and coaches overseeing workouts via Zoom—actions that directly contravened NCAA regulations.
Harbaugh’s role in these violations was not passive; his “unethical conduct” and “failure to cooperate” with the NCAA’s investigation elevated the case to a Level I violation, the most severe category. What made matters worse was Harbaugh’s decision to provide false or misleading information during the investigation, a move that sealed his fate and brought significant consequences to the program.
Likely to avoid further scrutiny, Harbaugh left the program earlier this year for the pros, taking on the role of head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers—not a demotion. But, his departure did not spare him from the NCAA’s reach.
He received a four-year show-cause penalty, a rare and severe punishment, preventing him from having contact with college recruits or athletes until 2028, effectively removing him from the college football landscape for the foreseeable future and marking a significant fall from grace—at least in college athletics. Further, five former Michigan staff members reached agreements with the NCAA in April, accepting penalties related to the same case—though the NCAA made it clear that Harbaugh had violated a head coach’s “responsibility obligations,” holding him most accountable for the actions.
Harbaugh’s unsportsmanlike conduct also led to his suspension by The Big Ten during the 2023 regular season, as punishment for his involvement in a sign-stealing scheme—the case is still ongoing. NCAA policy gives Michigan a minimum of 90 days to respond to all accusations. After a response, the school would be scheduled for a hearing in front of the NCAA’s committee on infractions, though a negotiated resolution remains possible. Michigan’s decision to resolve its portion of the case in April 2024, resulting in three years of probation, seemed like an attempt to put the matter to rest. However, the damage to the program’s reputation had already been done.
These details, however, show broader issues worth considering.
Harbaugh’s “win-at-all-costs” mentality—which seems to be plaguing many collegiate sports programs nationwide—is deeply troubling. It not only undermines the integrity of college sports but also sends a harmful message to students and fans who look up to these figures. The implication is that rules and ethics are secondary to victory and revenue generation.
It’s also concerning that Michigan could continue to operate almost seamlessly amid ongoing investigations, highlighting a larger issue: many institutions have the financial power and influence to cover up scandals and minimize the effects of scrutiny and investigations.
And, while the NFL’s decision to hire Harbaugh is not Michigan’s fault, the public should consider what message it sends to thousands of young students, college football fans, and student-athletes when a coach who violated rules can still become a professional football coach. It’s unlikely that this example will inspire students or college athletes to develop strong moral character when they see that breaking the rules doesn’t prevent them from getting ahead—$16 million ahead, to be exact.
For fans and alumni, the question remains: With Harbaugh’s departure and the program’s future in flux, will Michigan rise above these challenges, or is more turbulence ahead?
For those invested in higher education, scandals like this not only bring shame to the schools involved but have far-reaching consequences for the integrity of universities. When leaders—especially coaches—engage in unethical behavior, they undermine the mission of their institutions as places of learning and moral development.
Ultimately, this scandal should serve as a cautionary reminder for other programs: if college football coaches want to score touchdowns on the field, they need to stop fumbling off it.
An aerial photograph of Michigan Stadium by Lectrician2 on Wikimedia Commons and Disappointed person by stivog — Adobe Stock — Asset ID#: 98895421
What I don’t see is mention of U-Michigan loosing it’s championship as UMass Amherst did with a Basketball championship 20 years ago in the Caliperi era.
It was slightly different issues (google “Marcus Camby”) and I don’t know how much the NCAA ever found out about the other stuff that was going on, but again it was a coach who escaped NCAA jurisdiction by going to the pros.
And I blame the NBA, NFL, and NHL for this — if they are going to have colleges be their farm system (baseball doesn’t), then they need to have some responsibility when the farm coaches run amuck. For example, imagine if the NFL recognized a NCAA sanction in the way that one state will recognize the revocation of a license in another state — imagine if Harbaugh also couldn’t coach NFL for four years….
Notwithstanding that, there are things that the NCAA can do without NFL cooperation, starting with revoking the U-M championship (they did it to UMass).
Hardball would be to say that the Chargers are not permitted to talk to any NCAA athlete, or perhaps kick the Chargers out of the draft. While the NCAA can’t tell the Chargers to fire Harbaugh, it can make it expensive for them not to.
Otherwise it is a game — no matter how many rules you break, you can go pro if you win and it doesn’t matter if your past catches up with you.
Athletics corrupts a university, and almost always is a money losing operation when you include all of the shifted costs. I think the baseball model of farm teams is better, and you don’t hear scandals involving college baseball teams….
Dr. Ed,
The author did not mention Michigan football losing its championship because Michigan football has not lost its championship. Whether or not the NCAA will vacate any wins is yet to be revealed. But generally, the NCAA vacates wins for the use of ineligible players, which at this point is not one of the charges against Michigan.
The UMass Final Four appearance (not National Championship) from almost 30 years ago in 1996 was vacated due to Marcus Camby’s ineligibility. Michigan, of course, has its own famous basketball scandal (similarly for players taking money from people outside the program, thus ruining their amateur status) from the early 1990s, also resulting in vacated Final Fours. The coach of those teams, Steve Fisher, was fired by Michigan. Fisher was never sanctioned by the NCAA, did not “escape” to the NBA, and one year later took a job with a college team (San Diego State University) where he coached successfully for over 20 years. John Calipari was also never sanctioned for his time at UMass. Nor was Pete Carroll sanctioned, who left USC for the Seattle Seahawks after the NCAA opened an investigation into his football team.
Carroll, Calipari, and Harbaugh all “escaped” to the higher paying, more prestigious professional leagues before the NCAA meted out any punishments. If one takes them at their word, they desired to take the undeniably higher level jobs with the greater competitive challenge. But if you remain skeptical of their assertions, thinking the timing is too convenient, it is reasonable to believe they are taking the better jobs because they were no longer willing to engage in an NCAA system that operates in absurd rules and selective enforcement. Indeed, the NCAA is currently facing a fight for its very existence, losing multiple lawsuits and needing to negotiate with U.S. Congress to account for its antitrust violations.
I would not hold the NFL or NBA accountable for the actions of the corrupt NCAA or its member institutions. Yes, the NFL takes advantage of the NCAA system. But the NFL is a for-profit organization (officially true since 2015) that does not have morality or higher learning as its core mission. (As an aside, they did once uphold NCAA suspensions for Terrelle Pryor and Jim Tressel.)
You say: “Hardball would be to say that the Chargers are not permitted to talk to any NCAA athlete, or perhaps kick the Chargers out of the draft. While the NCAA can’t tell the Chargers to fire Harbaugh, it can make it expensive for them not to.”
Are you suggesting that the NCAA has the power to prevent an NFL team from talking to players who have entered the NFL draft or from participating in the NFL draft? It does not have that authority, as the NCAA is not the governing body for the NFL or the NFL draft, nor is it any kind of formal partner with the NFL at all.
The NBA has had its own developmental league, similar to the MLB, since 2001. And I’m sure it will not actually surprise you to learn that college baseball has many examples in its long history of NCAA violations. A simple google search reveals Northwestern recruiting violations in 2022 and 2023, Alabama’s coach’s termination and 15-year show cause for a gambling scandal in 2023, and Arizona State’s vacated wins and postseason ban for its recruiting and impermissible benefits violations from 2004-2008. Their coach was fired and received a one-year show cause.
The list is endless.
When you say, “Athletics corrupts a university,” there is truth in that (although universities are rife with corruption beyond just athletics). Many thought pieces have been written on the role of athletics at universities, often with an unflattering view. Sports in general breeds corruption. Look at FIFA and the IOC.
On the other hand, what large institution or organization is scandal free? This can all be a game of whack-a-mole and evolution with changing values and mores. Personally, I tend to reserve my moral outrage for scandals along the lines of Jerry Sandusky, Larry Nassar, Robert Anderson, or Richard Strauss. Recruiting violations or pushing the boundaries on the legal act of sign stealing are rules that should be monitored and punished when broken, but to me do not rise to the level of a moral panic.
The University of Michigan–not the NCAA–suspended Jim Harbaugh 3 games and Sherrone Moore 1 game at the start of the 2023 season for their roles in the COVID-19 recruiting violations. After the school’s self-imposed discipline, the NCAA added additional penalties for Michigan in April 2024. Separately, they waited until August 2024 to further discipline Harbaugh, more than six months after he had returned to the NFL. Yet Harbaugh’s return to the NFL surprised no one, as he had interviewed with the Vikings in 2021, spoke with the Panthers and Broncos in 2022, and had been rumored by many throughout 2023 to be eyeing a return to the NFL.
Separately, in the middle of the 2023 season, a staffer was accused of breaking NCAA rules to acquire knowledge of opponent signals. “Sign stealing” itself is considered part of the game, but advanced in-person scouting is not. The NCAA took the unprecedented step of notifying the conference of its opening an investigation, which in turn took the unprecedented step of notifying all of Michigan’s opponents. The staffer resigned (rather than wait to be fired, as Michigan had initially announced) and a linebacker coach was fired for interfering with the investigation–an accusation he denies. Jim Harbaugh was then suspended for three games at the end of Michigan’s season by the Big Ten conference, even as the Big Ten acknowledged it was a punishment of the institution, and not Harbaugh as an individual, because there was no evidence that Harbaugh or any other coach had any knowledge of, or connection to, the advanced in-person scouting.
In spite of these punishments to the team and distraction for the players, the team persevered, overcoming the season-long adversity to win a National Championship. As Harbaugh said following the Penn State game (the first game for which the Big Ten had suspended him):
“Watching it, I would have to say it’s America’s team. America loves a team that beats the odds, beats the adversity, overcomes what the naysayers, critics, so-called experts think. That’s my favorite kind of team.”
Indeed, Michigan demonstrated exactly the kind of character and story arc that inspires Walt Disney films.
Throughout 2023 and 2024, three separate entities disciplined Jim Harbaugh and Michigan: The University of Michigan, the Big Ten Conference, and the NCAA. The NCAA is likely going to hand down further discipline for the advanced in-person scouting once it concludes its due process. What that is remains to be seen, as the NCAA is not bound by any particular sentencing guidelines.
Whatever the outcome, the story is one of a team that was punished in-season–and after the season–and overcame the obstacles to still pull down the ultimate goal. Whether one celebrates or rebukes that comes down to one’s predisposition toward Michigan (or Jim Harbaugh), one’s understanding and acceptance (or lack of acceptance) of high-level athletics, or one’s views on justice in regards to crime and punishment.
Is this the same Univ of Michigan that recently agreed to pay $490 million in damages to the more than 1,000 former students, mostly male, who said they were sexually abused by sports doctor Robert Anderson after agreeing to pay a larger sum to former female gymnasts abused by a different MD?
Dr. Ed,
Because of this website’s comment moderation policy, I’m afraid we may end up talking past each other a bit. I’m not quite sure how your reply here is a meaningful response to my original comment. But coincidentally, you will notice in my reply to your original comment, I had already referenced Larry Nassar and Robert Anderson (among others) to illustrate how trivial some of this NCAA rule breaking is in the grand scheme of things.
Speaking of matters that are more serious than advanced in-person scouting or meeting with a recruit for breakfast during a recruiting dead period, I also left a reply for you in the post about Jonathan Smith’s role as the moral savior of Michigan State, if you care to check it out.
Apologies, I am unable to edit the other comment I already submitted, but it appears that you believe the University of Michigan employed Larry Nassar. That is not the case. Nassar was at Michigan State University. Jessi Wynn made reference to Nassar at MSU in her post from August 6th about Jonathan Smith where you left a reply that was posted on August 7th.
But yes, Robert Anderson was a doctor for the University of Michigan athletic department from 1968 to 1998. He was with the school from 1966-2003.
Although many of his survivors did report his sexual assaults to authority figures at the school at the time, the accusations were not publicly known until 20 years after he had left the athletic department and 10 years after his death in 2008. Because of the University’s culpability in this matter, they did, as you noted, reach a settlement of $490 million in 2022 with over 1,000 survivors.